Hate Me
by Relic
Summary: Oscar Delancey knew exactly where he was headed in life. And the last thing he ever expected, or wanted, was some broad coming along and messing it all up. Winner of a Winter 2010 NYNA!
1. Prologue: Hello, Oscar

**(Author's Note - a new one! This is the first Oscar fic I've ever written, even though I like his character a lot. I think he's funny and a little misunderstood, so I promise he'll get a little more relatable as the story goes on. Bear with me, and please leave a review and let me know you're reading if you like it!)**

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I don't like you.

Let's just start there. The name's Oscar Delancey, and I can tell you right now, I don't like you. I don't like the way you smile, or the way you walk, or the way you talk. I don't even have to hear you laugh to know that I'd rather gouge myself in the ear with a really dull spoon than listen to it. Don't think you're an exception, either, just because I haven't met you. I don't have to know you. I know that I don't like you. Got it?

Good.

Because that's gonna make it a whole lot easier for you to not like me.

This thing will go a whole lot smoother if you don't. Trust me. After all, I know how this story ends; it ain't one that I'm proud of, which is really saying something. I mean, I nearly crippled a guy in a bar fight once, and I'm proud of that. I couldn't set the bar much lower if I wanted to.

If you're really that nosy, though… here it is.

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My days were pretty typical. Wake up and head to the distribution center – I usually punched somebody before we'd finished giving out the morning edition. Mornings piss me off. The self-important sunrise, the damn morning mist that always makes me fall on my ass, and the demented birds outside my window that are always yapping at each other and flying into the glass.

I liked the job okay, though. My older brother Morris, he and I are pretty tight, and we got to work side by side there. Morris was no joke; I learned everything I know from him. I guess you could say that I looked up to him, if I was going to be real honest about it. I tagged along after him, tried to win his approval, all that. Probably would've followed him into war if he'd ever asked me to.

Anyway, that was the day job. After afternoon edition, we'd head home for dinner before going to our second job. Yeah, we had a second job; ain't like distribution center jerk paid in rubies, right? So, in our downtime, we were thugs for hire. We mostly shook people down, some stealing here and there; paid better than you'd think, actually. Most people want to think that they're good people underneath it all, so they don't like to get their hands dirty. I never had that problem; I know what I am. No sense in wasting time denying it just to be surprised when you get slapped down into hell at the pearly gates.

Once we'd finished whatever work we had, it was off to the local bar until they kicked us out, and back home to bed before we had to wake up and do it all again. Not glamorous, but it suited me fine. And then, one day, a broad came in and wrecked it all…

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"_GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE!" _Accompanied by a flying alcohol bottle that smashed against the wall near my head, I figured family dinner was over. This was usually how it ended; Morris had already headed out, Mother was crying, and Pa was cursing about something. It made Morris mad, but I figured, hey, for free room and board as a grown man, I could put up with the nightly dinner shows.

That wasn't totally true. I also kind of held out hope that one night, just one, we'd eat the whole meal without Pa smacking somebody. Or at least without smacking Mother.

I got up and grabbed my hat, getting out of there before Pa could pick up something else. We didn't have any work, tonight, so Morris was gone. Probably already two drinks under at the bar with the boys. I was jealous of him right then; it was mid-November and a colder year than normal, so vodka sounded like a real God-send.

I'd almost made it to the bar when I heard the screaming. I thought about ignoring it; tried to, even. But I guess curiosity got the best of me, because all the sudden I was down a side alley and looking at the scene before I even realized I'd moved.

It was messy. Even for my standards.

I'd worked guys over pretty good, and I ran with a rough crowd, so I'd seen some things. A lot of things, truth be told. But this was new. It was three guys, my size, beating on something – honestly, with all the blood and the way it was getting tossed around like a rag doll, I wasn't even sure it was a human. But I knew it was going to be dead, soon – and judging by the way the guys were laughing, that's what they were aiming for.

I don't know why I did it. Maybe God possessed me, or being out in the cold just made me angry; who knows? All I know for sure is, I walked right over the biggest guy and stabbed him under his arm before they even knew I was there.

The other two took one look as the guy went down and ran off; you can always count on poor loyalty from thugs in this city. Besides, that under the arm thing, it really does the trick - sort of like kicking a guy in the bits. Every guy around him is going to feel it, and they won't be anxious to be the next one up.

Then, I swear to you, the guy on the ground started crying. Can you believe it? The criminal element in this city was really disgusting sometimes. But that's when I noticed that the guy was definitely drunk – and that that thing they were kicking around was definitely human.

I nudged it with my shoe, rolling it over before getting a good look and managing, "What the…"

It was a girl. A pretty girl, too – which meant those guys had had to jump her pretty hard and fast, if she was conscious long enough to protect her face for that long. It also meant she was lucky as sin I came along when I did, because it was my guess that those three had more plans than just playing kick the can with her ribcage.

At that point, I wanted to leave. I was starting to get this funny, fuzzy feeling – sort of like when a whore's trying to work you over and they're saying all that nice stuff to you? Like that, only… warmer. I didn't like it.

It got worse when I saw the cross hanging on a chain around her neck, and noticed that her clothes were, presumably before the beating, pretty wholesome. Had those guys jumped a nun? Idiots. I stayed away from holy people – I do bad stuff, but pissing God off on purpose isn't on my list. I've read the Old Testament.

So, I've got a guy crying, and what I think might be a nun laying unconscious, and they're both bleeding all over everything. I could just imagine what the bulls would do to me if they found me there. I turned to go, maybe see if I could make it to the bar and salvage the night, when a hand grabbed my ankle.

"Oscar…"

It was the girl. After taking a deep breath so that I could pretend like I hadn't just nearly jumped out of my skin in surprise, I turned around and immediately wrinkled my nose. "Are you a damned idiot? Look at what you're doing – you're spitting out blood. Keep trying to talk and you're gonna choke on it. You'll shut up and save your energy for crawling out of here before those guys come back if you've got any mind at all."

She didn't react to my harsh tone, which got me to pause long enough to think to add, "How do you know my name?"

Considering what I'd just said before, I did at least feel a little bad when she tried to answer and instead started to cough violently. Still, she stopped after a few moments, and I rolled my eyes. "If you know me, then you can come find me and pay me back for saving your stupid life. That is, if you think you can handle it from here, now that I've done all the work."

She didn't respond. I glanced down and saw that her eyes were closed. Great. This was why doing good deeds was always worthless. If she was weak and stupid enough to get into this predicament, then she was weak and stupid enough to die. I started out of the alley as I cursed to myself. Really, what was a girl like that even doing there? Stupid. Just stupid.

It was precisely that moment when I realized I was going to be stupider.

It was probably her face. Pretty girls have been duping men for all eternity, right? Or maybe it was that she knew my name. It's a big city, and I was curious to find out how she knew me.

Or maybe it was because I knew, even then, that this girl was going to hurricane her way into my life no matter what I did.

I turned around, back into that dumb alley, and went and got her. I guess a lot of guys would feel like a hero, but all I was thinking about was how here I was, risking getting thrown in the slammer by picking this girl up and carrying her outta here, and she's squirming all over the place. She just got her stomach kicked in, what'd she want me to do?! Not like there was some magic way I could hold her that would be comfortable. And she was getting blood all over my clothes – that was going to be fun to explain.

Still, as I walked toward the convent down the street (I figured by now that she wasn't a nun, but it seemed like a good place to leave a battered body), I found that I didn't really care so much. She'd stopped moving so much, and all she was really doing was digging her fingers into my arm. Ordinarily I'd be insulted, since I'm no twig-armed weakling who can't handle carrying someone a half a block, but it sort of felt like she was just touching me to touch me, not hanging on for dear life. I don't get touched a lot, at least with a hand that's not balled into a fist at the time, so it was kind of nice.

And then it was over. I stopped outside the gates of place, and took more care setting the girl down then I'd prefer to admit before hollering like a maniac. Once I saw lights come on, I took off, not glancing back as I started for a friend's house to steal some clothes. I assumed that would be the last I ever heard about all of it.

I was so wrong.


	2. Chapter 1: Hello, Adren

**(Author's Note - Next chapter! Thank you so much for the reviews, I really appreciate knowing people are reading! Hopefully this chapter doesn't disappoint!)**

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_(If you're sleeping are you dreaming?  
If you're dreaming are you dreaming of me?  
I can't believe you actually picked me.)_

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Lunchtime. Finally.

I waved Morris off before heading out the back to find a quiet curb to sit down and eat. He took his lunch with his girl; don't even get me started on that. She works ten blocks away – if you could call her half-assed attempt at waitressing for rich suits 'work' – and even though he had to run both ways, he still went. I kept my opinions to myself, though – first and last time I mentioned it to him, he punched me in the face, so I guess he wasn't going _that_ soft.

The sun was out, even though it was still freezing. I took a minute after sitting down to lean back, letting the light hit my face and pretending there was some warmth that came with it. I needed the moment; it was three weeks after the incident, but I was still a little shook up. Cut me a break; I bust some heads sometimes, but I'm not a psychopath, I don't run around stabbing guys. I was mostly over the whole thing, but my nerves were still a little shot.

Which wasn't really helped when a newspaper, not warmth, slapped me right in the face.

"You got a death wish?" I demanded, grabbing the paper off my face and tearing it up. Finally looking up at my assailant, I did a double-take. "You!"

It was the girl. Took me a second to recognize her, not beaten and bloody and near-death and all, but I did. She was prettier than I remembered; long auburn hair, green eyes. Some other attractive qualities that you probably don't want to hear about. Still, pretty or not, getting a slap in the face with a paper after saving someone's life would make any guy a little annoyed. "Did you hear me?"

"I'm sorry. I was aiming for your lap." Okay, so it was right about then I noticed she was on a crutch, which forgave the aim. I already said I was edgy! It didn't seem to bother her much, though, since she smiled and went on. "You told me to come find you and pay you back. So, I am."

Her smile was weird. I guess you'd call it… shy? I don't know; we Delancey's are a lot of things, but shy ain't one of them, and that's true for most of the crowd I hang around with. Not being able to figure out what the hell her expression meant just made me more irritated.

"You're paying me back with a newspaper? I work in the distribution center – what kinda stupid are you?" I asked, making sure to tip up my hat so she could see my glare.

Her smile fell off. I guess most people would've felt bad, but I just felt kind of… victorious. That is, until the grin came back, bigger than ever. "It's all I have," she explained. "It's all I can give you."

"Well I don't want it, so… what are you doing?" My glare had to give for a minute in exchange for shock. This crazy girl turned around and sat right down next to me!

Like she was totally not aware that she was signing a death warrant, she looked over at me, still with that smile. "What about coffee, instead? I know a diner nearby that doesn't mind if you bring food in, so long as you buy something. It's too cold for you to eat outside."

"You're making a big mistake," I said, now over the shock enough to be mad again. So much for a lunch filled with peace and quiet. "You think I'm gonna go get coffee, with you? I'll tell you what I'm gonna do – I'm gonna count to ten, and then if you haven't hopped your way up and outta my sight, I'm gonna do a lot worse than those guys did. What the hell made you think I would go run off and _get coffee_ with _you_?"

You'd have to have seen the sneer I was giving to get the full effect, but suffice to say, it wasn't the sweetest I've ever been. Still, the girl shrugged it off like it was nothing and answered, "Well, because you saved my life."

"Get a clue. I was just looking for a fight – you were just there. You should be thanking God for your luck, not thinking that I'm your new best pal," I snapped. My time for lunch was ticking away because of this nonsense.

"My name's Adren," she said, as if I hadn't spoken at all. "I see you every day, when I get my papers. That's how I knew your name, to answer your question from… before. I know you don't know mine, though, which is okay. You do now. It's short for Adrenaline; you know, a nickname."

"That's a stupid name," I said flatly, taking a bite out of my sandwich.

"No stupider than Oscar." I nearly choked, and even though she looked properly embarrassed, she still went on in that matter-of-fact tone before I could stop her. "Sorry. I thought we were just being honest."

I was back to glaring. "Is this why those guys were kicking the crap out of you? Because, I get it now."

"You winked at me, you know. My first day of selling," she offered.

"Oh sure, I put that in my 'special memory' box," I replied, now determined to finish my sandwich and stare at the wall ahead of me. I didn't really hit girls, and apparently she was calling my bluff. Or just testing my resolve.

"You're funny," she said, laughing a little. "You're rude, and kind of mean, but you're funny. I like you."

"I don't care," I returned. "I'm only giving you one last chance to take off because I want to finish my sandwich."

"I believe you. But, I owe you, and I'm going to pay you back, so, this is what I have to do. You do what you have to, too," she shrugged. "I was just trying to say, I've noticed you. More than you've noticed me, obviously. And I've noticed that people aren't real nice to you. So, I'd like to."

There went my stupid curiosity, again. "Like to what?"

"I'd like to be nice to you."

She just _had_ to say it like that; like she believed it, meant it. I'd like to say that I said something really dirty about how _nice_ she could be to me, or something like that. But the truth is, just like every idiot man who ever met a woman before me, when she blinked those green eyes at me one more time, my common sense just deserted me.

I got up. "If I let you buy me coffee, just this once, will you leave me the hell alone?"

"We can negotiate," she returned, giving a big smile as she tried to get to her feet.

I rolled my eyes and reached out, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her up. "When do you get rid of this thing? You make a pretty pathetic gimp."

She stopped for a minute, looking confused. "I… can't tell if that's an insult." Then she started moving again. "Next time, when _you_ buy _me_ coffee, I'll tell you how long I've got with 'this thing'."

I stopped and stared at her until she got so far ahead that I had to rush to catch up. "There ain't _never_ gonna be a next time."

There was definitely a next time.


	3. Chapter 2: Hello, Coffee

_I have to block out thoughts of you so I don't lose my head._

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"You gonna say something, or what?"

We'd been at the diner five minutes, at least, and other than ordering coffee, the girl hadn't said a word. It was creeping me out.

She shrugged at my question, leaning back in the booth. "I figured you didn't want to talk. This is your payback, after all – it's supposed to be about what you want."

"If you really meant that, we wouldn't be here," I returned. I hated that the coffee was actually starting to make me feel better. "You already dragged me here. You can't make it any worse."

She looked thoughtful. "Well… okay. How old are you? I turn seventeen next month – I kinda want to know what I'm in for. Did you have any big revelations at that age?"

"Yeah, sure. I realized it was the same stupid day as the other sixteen I'd seen." I rolled my eyes. "I'm nineteen, going on twenty. Too old to be playing around with newsies."

She was quiet for another minute. I thought she might get up and leave, and wondered if she'd drank very much of her coffee, or if I could pilfer it once she was out the door. Instead, of course, she just opened her mouth to talk again.

"What do you do for fun, Oscar?"

Another stupid question. And yet, here I was, not walking away. What was wrong with me?

"I don't have fun. I work to eat. That's what I call fun." There. It wasn't a full on insult, but at least it wasn't nice.

She didn't even have the decency to look flustered. "That can't be true. I see you laughing a lot at the distribution center."

"I'm laughing at those stupid newsies. You probably know the type." I gave her what I thought was a pretty pointed look, but she started laughing, so I must have been wrong. "You think it's funny? I beat those kids up, that's what I do for fun!"

"I believe you, that's what's funny." I didn't know what to say to that, mostly because I figured she must be crazy, so she went on. "I just think it's funny, it's all. I mean, here we are sitting together when my idea of fun is picking flowers in central park, and yours is busting peoples' heads. Doesn't seem like a likely match, does it?"

"That's what I've been saying this whole time!" This girl was going to drive me nuts!

"… Good thing I don't care much about what other people think is likely. Jesus ate with prostitutes, too, right?"

Did she just call me a whore? "Did you just call me a whore?"

She just laughed and drank more of her coffee. "You really are funny, you know. So, is it okay if I ask you why you hate newsies so much? I mean, that's sort of a big group of people."

"Newsies killed my mother." Now it was her turn to look surprised, finally, and _I_ got to laugh. "You must not sell many papers if you're really that gullible. I just think they're annoying as all hell. Why did you think?"

She smiled, and I just knew something bad was coming. I guess I pushed it with the gullible comment. "But, I don't annoy you that much, right? I mean, if I did, you'd be gone right now, wouldn't you?"

If this girl could have swung a two-by-four as well as she could apparently make me uncomfortable, I would've hired her to do all my head-busting jobs in a second. She had me; it was true, and the worst part was, she knew that we both knew it. Too bad I'd step in front of a runaway wagon before I'd admit it.

Fortunately, I didn't have to say anything. Instead of rubbing it in until I felt like the world's biggest idiot, which is exactly what I would've done, she just continued on like it was nothing.

A graceful winner… what a jerk.

"You're a hard worker," she said, giving me that weird, nice smile that only people who are new to New York ever give. A local like her should have known better, I thought. "You probably really don't have much time for fun."

"No, I don't." I didn't like how her comment made me feel so relaxed, so I just drank my coffee and tried to ignore how comfortable this latest quiet was. It was like we were actually friends or something.

It was awhile before she broke the silence again.

"Did you know those guys that jumped me?" I must have looked surprised, which was becoming a trend with this broad, because she shrugged her shoulders. "I didn't know if maybe they were enemies of yours, or something, the way you broke in like that. I know you didn't do it for me, so, I was just curious."

"You didn't know them?" I couldn't help it; her endless questions were contagious, I guess. Sorta like the plague. "Figured you met 'em in a bar or something."

She shook her head so fast it made her hair fan out. It looked nice, combed and not messed up with blood and all. "I never even got a good look at them. I was just trying to hurry and get back to the boarding house, you know, before it got dark, so I took a shortcut. Pretty stupid given how it turned out, I know."

Ordinarily, this would have been the part where I agreed with her and went on to kick her while she was down, but instead I found myself shaking head. "This city's full of rocks and hard places; sometimes there's no good choice. No, I didn't know them; didn't know you were there, either. Just got nosy, is all."

She smiled, looking like she knew something I didn't. "I come here every day at this time. The coffee warms me up, makes it easier to go sell the afternoon edition. There's always a seat and coffee for you, you know, if you ever want to stop by again."

"Don't hold your breath, kid," I replied, drinking the rest of my coffee faster than I probably should have and standing up. Being around here was making me act strangely; saying things that were almost nice, not punching people. Whatever it was, I had to get out before it became permanent.

"Oscar?" She stood up too, forcing me to wait while she took nearly half a minute to maneuver herself up. She really was a lousy gimp.

"What? I'm going to be late," I said, back to my normal aggravated tone.

"Thank you." And then, she hugged me.

Ugh.

_Newsies_.

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It had been a little over a week since the diner. Just to be clear, I hadn't gone back. She could go there all she wanted, but I didn't need some little newsgirl being my new best friend that I gossiped with over coffee. I wasn't one of those kinda guys, okay?

I was just the kinda guy who stopped working when she came through the distribution line so that I could watch her until she walked off.

She was driving me crazy. I wasn't trying to stalk her or anything; I was real obvious about it, figuring she'd feel me looking and look up, maybe give me a smile or something. Then, I'd have given her my best sneer (which I'd checked in the mirror when I'd gotten back from the diner; looked pretty damn scary to me, so I still couldn't figure out why it didn't seem to bother her), and said something really insulting to let her know that we were _not_ friends.

Instead, she acted like I wasn't there, every single time. Do you have any idea how hard it is to intimidate someone into leaving you alone if they won't pay attention to you?

Finally after another morning of this, I'd had enough. I barely made it to lunch before I stormed down to the diner, ready to really let her have it.

"Oscar – over here!" True to her word, the girl was sitting right at the same spot in the same booth, waving at me.

"You are some piece of work, you – what is this?" I stopped what was the start of my pretty well-prepared speech when I got up close enough to her table to realize there were two cups of coffee.

"I told you – you always have a seat and a cup of coffee here. Are you going to sit down?" She sounded so sweet that my speech fell right out of my head. It was infuriating.

"What's the matter with you? One day you won't leave me alone, and the next you're ignoring me. I don't get the game," I said. I still couldn't seem to sound as mad as I wanted to with this girl, but at least I hadn't sat down. It was always the small battles that won the wars.

"Oh, at the distribution center? Is that what you're talking about?" I must have scowled, because she shrugged after a moment. "I thought that that's what you wanted. I figured this place could sort of be our… spot, and outside of here I'd leave you alone. I know your reputation's probably pretty important to you. I didn't want to do anything to mess it up."

That thing about small battles? Completely true. Which is why when I sat down after a minute of debating over it, I knew I'd lost. "We're not friends; don't get confused. I just like the coffee here."

"And I like you. So we're both set to have some good lunches here, huh?" She laughed, and didn't seem to care at all that I didn't. "How was your day? I like your new hat, looks nice…"

Battles – hah, yeah right. I never stood a chance.

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**(Author's Note – Hi! Thanks so much for the reviews! It's so cool to know I'm not the only one reading the story! Anyway, thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! And since I haven't done it before, Newsies and the Delancey's belong to Disney, Adren belongs to Adren, 'Hate Me' lyrics belong to Blue October, and that makes… pretty much nothing that belongs to me. So please don't sue me!)**

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	4. Chapter 3: Hello, Friendship

**(Author's Note - Sorry for the delay! Unexpected work-travel took over my life :( But I'm back! Please R&R if there's anyone out there still reading this thing!)**

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_They crawl in like a cockroach leaving babies in my bed  
Dropping little reels of tape to remind me that I'm alone  
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"I don't care what he did to you, you keep going like this and your hands aren't gonna work at all by the time you hit twenty-five." She slapped ice down on my bruised knuckles and then even had the gall to give me a dirty look when I cursed.

You might be wondering why I wasn't making the girl cry, right about now. If so, believe me, I was wondering the same thing. But, crazy as it was, a lot had changed in the last month.

Coffee at the diner was still happening; daily now, in fact. As it turned out, I kinda liked having somebody listen to me. Sharing anything, even information, wasn't really in my nature. Thing was, Adren was a real non-judgmental type in most cases, and never seemed to get bothered with whatever I'd say. So each day I got a little more comfortable, said just a little bit more, and soon enough, I was talking the whole lunch away.

"What do you want me to do, huh? The guy comes up first thing in the morning, whistlin' like his mom dropped him on his head a few too many times as a baby, and before I know it he's slamming his face against my fist. The way I see it, I'm really the victim here." I thought she might be buying it, but then she slammed the ice down again.

"You're just lucky I'm such an expert on bruises now," she told me. I had a good comeback to that, about how being an expert on being _given_ them wasn't the same thing, but she cut me off. "Have you thought any more about the party?"

Oh yeah. _That_.

Last week, she'd told me about some party her newsie friends were throwing for her birthday. Then, she got this crazy look in her eyes, and invited me to the thing! Apparently, she thought my response (which included 'only a real idiot would even think about asking that…' and 'hell would freeze over', and those were just the tamer parts) was a joke.

"What's to think about?" I said, pulling my hand away and leaning back in the booth.

"Well, whether you'd want to come or not. Like I told you, you're invited," she said.

"I go wherever I want. I don't wait for a damned invitation. And what under the sun made you think I'd want to go to that?" She leaned back a little, and I took it as a sign of weakness, instinctively jumping on the chance to go for the jugular. "I mean, you can string a few words together, so I know you're smarter than a monkey. But even a monkey should know that Oscar Delancey ain't gonna show up at some newsie party and start making small talk. So what's your excuse, huh?"

"It… it's my birthday today. I just thought you might want to go, is all." Great; now she was about to cry and half the diner was staring at us, shooting me dirty looks.

"If you thought I'd be spending my day today hanging around a bunch of stupid kids, then you're outta your head." I got up and tossed my napkin on the table before heading for the door. "Get a clue."

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I took one last drag off my cigarette before tossing it down onto the ground. I was leaning on a wall behind me, one foot pressed up against it. Most people don't realize how practical that pose is; they figure it's just so a guy can look like a stud. And I mean, don't get me wrong, I looked like a stud. But it's actually better than standing straight when you're gonna have to spring off down the sidewalk the way I was.

She was taking forever; must have sensed I was waiting for her. I swear, annoying me came so natural to her, it must've been in her blood or something. She finally came out of the gates holding her papers, and she had just enough time to look up and see me before I snatched them from her. See what I mean about the pose?

"Oscar?" She didn't look thrilled to see me. Too bad she didn't have the sense to want to stay away from me in the first place, or else none of this would've happened. "Are you stealing my newspapers?"

"Stealing them? Haven't we already gone over how much I don't need your stupid papers? What is it with you and asking stupid questions today?" Not exactly how I envisioned this going, but hey, I was offended. Here I was, about to do the nicest thing I'd probably ever done, and she's accusing me of stealing. Tossing them on the ground (and stomping on them for good measure), I shoved a couple dollars into her hand before saying with as much malice as I could, which was a lot, "That cover it, _Officer_? Or do you want to haul me in and shake me down for the rest?"

She wordlessly looked at the money in her hand, and then at me, like we were both something that just fell down from the sky. "I don't… get it."

This girl drove me crazy! "Money, business, or life in general? 'Cause for you, on all three fronts, I'd have to agree," I returned, before just grabbing her wrist and beginning to drag her down the street. Anymore back and forth like this and I was going to abandon the plan and possibly strangle her, so I figured now was a good time to put a move on.

She didn't say anything. She thought I was stealing her newspapers, even though I work at a damn distribution center, but she was just fine with me pulling her halfway across town without so much as a word to where we were going. This girl, I decided at that moment, had no business being in New York City, and needed to be boxed up and sent out West somewhere where there wouldn't be someone on every corner out to take advantage of her.

It was the very next moment when I decided, with a whole lot more shame and annoyance, that I actually cared that someone might take advantage of her.

Luckily, our arrival forced me to stop deciding things. I stopped so abruptly that she was nearly sent tumbling, and I only paused to right her before letting her go and motioning around. "Okay, have at it."

She looked confused. "We're… why are we at Central Park? Have at what?"

"You said your idea of fun was picking flowers in Central Park. It's not the best season for flowers, but since we haven't had too much snow yet, there's a few… weeds, and stuff." Now I was getting confused. Had she been joking? Or just messing with me? This was what I got for trying to do something nice. "Look, I thought it was stupid too, but it was your dumb comment about the flowers, so it's your fault we wasted time, not mine. I would've rather-"

She cut me off. "You bought my papers so I could spend the afternoon having fun."

It wasn't really a question, this time, but she was staring at me so intently that I had to say something just to get her attention off. It was freaking uncomfortable. "I thought you could pick flowers and I'll just… sit over on the bench and watch you pick flowers. Make sure nobody bothers you." No way was I picking flowers with her. Nice or not, I had limits.

I didn't even see her hug coming until she was nearly strangling me with her arms. "Is this why you said no to the party? This is amazing, Oscar – thank you! You're the best!"

I patted her on the back, trying not to do anything wrong. As you might've guessed, I don't get hugged real often, and unfortunately I knew I couldn't just stand there in shock like I had the first time she'd done it. Our relationship was evolving – and no matter how hard I tried not to, apparently, so was I.

Finally she let go of me, and I rubbed my head, mostly to distract from how red I knew my face had to be. That was the luxury of centuries of good, German breeding passed down from my mother's side – my face lit up like somebody threw red paint on me every time I felt… okay, any time I got embarrassed. A real blessing, especially hanging with the crowd I do, you can imagine. I never got to hear the end of it.

"Yeah, well, it's your birthday. You should do what you want, not just be an excuse for those idiots to go out and drink until they throw it all back up," I said, heading for the bench as she moved to take a seat near a few patches of weeds. She didn't seem to notice my blush, or at least didn't say anything about it. My grudging respect went up another few notches. "Since you seem so damn set on making them all happy and going to that thing, I figured you should at least get to spend a few hours having fun."

"I just can't believe you even remember me saying that – it was so long ago. This is one of the best presents anyone's ever gotten me," she said, before giving me an amused smile. "And really, you didn't have to get me anything. You did save my life, and all. Just getting to see my birthday is a pretty good gift. But, well, anyway, how was the rest of your morning? You took off from lunch before you could tell me about it."

We spent the next couple hours talking about nothing in particular, as usual. It should've bothered me, how much she knew about my daily life, and vice versa, at that point. The fact that it didn't bother me should have concerned me even more.

I knew about her creepy customer who gave her cut-outs from the prior day's paper, formed into love notes, when he bought his daily paper from her. She knew about my escalating war with one of the other guys in the distribution center over where the halfway, hand-off line was from where he got the paper bundles to where I had to put 'em. She even knew about my night jobs, and Morris would murder me if he ever found out I'd told anyone about those.

I trusted her.

Which is the only explanation I've got for what happened next.

I'd been telling a story about the one time I'd bet at the horse races – and lost my shirt for the trouble – when she interrupted me. "Please come to the party tonight, Oscar."

I was so involved in the story, her bizarre break-in nearly knocked me off the bench. "What?"

"I want you to come to the party. I'm going to have to leave soon to go get ready, and I want to spend more time with you. It's my party, anyway, so I should get to choose who attends. I want you there," she finished, and I could tell by how breathless she seemed that she must've been working up to that speech for some time now. "Please. It's my birthday."

I felt bad at how desperate she sounded – which was unusual, since I spent most of my life trying to make people feel that way. Guilt wasn't usually a major issue for my conscience. "Your friends and me ain't exactly drinking buddies," I reminded her, feeling the need to try to be gentle. As gentle as I could, anyway. "They'd jump me as soon as I walked in the door. Hell, if I went to any establishment that'd let the likes of them in, I'd jump myself for being so stupid if I could."

She opened her mouth to interrupt, but I held up a hand and went on. "Even if you could keep us all playing nice – don't think I wouldn't deck one of them if I got half a chance, either – I know you. You'd feel bad that I wasn't playing skip rope with the rest of the idiots, or whatever it is they all do, and you'd spend the whole night trying to baby-sit me. Then you wouldn't have fun, either."

"But you're the one that said I should have fun on my birthday, and that you didn't trust my friends to make sure I had fun at the party. If you were there, you'd make sure I had fun, wouldn't you?" Now it was her turn to cut me off when I tried to interrupt her. "You'll just go to a bar anyway. Why not go to one where the alcohol is paid for? And you could bring Morris and his girlfriend, that way you'd have someone to talk to. I bet Morris's girlfriend would like to have a nice date with him – and say what you want, but my friends are better company for girls than yours are."

I _didn't_ want to say anything on that subject – she was clearly right and I would hate to have to admit it. So instead, I just cleared my throat. "Well… it _is_ free alcohol."

"And maybe some loose women," she piped in, and gave a grin at my shocked expression. By now I knew that she liked to say things that surprised me – I had to figure it was some kind of secret game she played, that she always won at. Frankly, I didn't find the whole thing very sporting.

"Come on, I'll walk you back." Standing up, I shrugged and held out a hand to her to help her up. "I know where the thing's supposed to be – I'll _think_ about showing up. Will that get you off my back?"

"On my honor." She took my hand and even tried to keep from smiling victoriously – she mostly managed it. Mostly. "You know, Oscar Delancey, you're a much better guy than you let yourself believe."

I rolled my eyes and pulled her to her feet. "You know, you're just delusional."

For once, I wish I'd been the one that was wrong.


	5. Chapter 4: Hello, Megs

_Playing movies in my head that make a porno feel like home_

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"Great choice tonight, Oscar. Maybe tomorrow night we can go find a playground to go play at?"

Meghan, or 'Megs', gave me a look through lowered lashes after her comment. I figured she must give that look a lot – tilting her head so that her long brown hair flipped slightly, blinking her sharp brown eyes, pouting her deep red lips. It got her anything she wanted – at least from Morris.

Good thing I was immune.

"Aw, Megs," I said, leaning back and flashing her a smile that probably would've passed more for a snarl. "You know we can't go near playgrounds with you there. Kids hate witches – you'd scare off all the children."

Her offended look was great, but the victory was short-lived, as Morris punched me hard in the shoulder. "Shut it," he warned.

Killjoy.

Terrific night this was turning out to be. The bar was okay – small neighborhood place, owned by the uncle of one of the newsies. Decent music, good alcohol, dim lighting; not too far from my normal place. But surrounded by newsies who were all more irritating than usual thanks to too much beer, and Megs, who had a special way of making me want to strangle her with every word she said, I was pretty much living my nightmare.

Worse, from her table full of idiots a few feet away, Adren kept looking over at us with a huge smile, obviously happy we were here. I knew leaving would wipe that smile right off, so I was rooted, forced to stick with this torture.

"Remind me again why we're here?" Megs posed, obviously enjoying having found a button she could push on me. She leaned back against the booth, pulling Morris's arm around her shoulders and smirking when I sent her a dirty look.

"Friend's birthday party. I thought you might want to see what it was like, since I'm sure you've never been invited to one before," I returned, but held up my hand when Morris moved to smack me again. "Just kidding. Relax."

The rest of the people there were doing a good job of ignoring us; I don't know what Adren had said to them, but it must have worked. It was a shame they couldn't ignore her, too – especially annoying was the newsboy with the eye patch who hadn't left her side all night. The way he was acting, it seemed like they were an item – were they an item? Surely she would've mentioned that, or him, at some point. Unless she thought it was none of my business. Which it wasn't.

I needed more whiskey.

"I'm going out for a cigarette," Morris declared, once I returned to the table with another round of drinks and sat down. I rolled my eyes – 'cigarette' for Morris was code for whatever drug of the week he'd gotten his hands on. Usually it wasn't anything too bad, but it did cause him to disappear for long periods of time – sometimes even an hour or more. I was a tough guy, but even I couldn't handle an hour alone with Megs in her current mood.

Megs looked up at him, obviously displeased. Then again, it was Megs; what else was new. "I want to dance!"

Morris paused, obviously surprised since she hadn't mentioned it before, but she waved him on. "It's fine; go ahead. Just, make Oscar dance with me."

They both stood up, and Morris reached over to nudge me. "You heard the lady."

"What lady? All I heard was Megs," I retorted. However, when his hand balled into a fist, I held up my hands again, getting to my feet. "Okay, okay, fine."

"Let me lead – if you dance anything like your brother, which I'm sure you do, I don't want you stepping all over my feet," she said, as soon as Morris was out of earshot. She pulled me to an open piece of floor and placed my hands on her like I was a rag doll before I could blink. "You've got such a nice body – it's such a shame that it's wasted on you."

"Can we not talk about my body? Unless you want to wait until Morris gets back – then, by all means, keep going," I said, trying to decide if I could manage to swing her into a wall and somehow manage to make it look like an accident.

"Why do you hate me so much?" Megs almost sounded sincere – and for her, 'almost' was probably as close as she could get.

"Your winning personality," I replied, looking over at Adren's table to both watch the spectacle of a fuzzy-haired kid trying to do a flip over a chair while drink, and to avoid having to look at Megs. "That, and you cheat on my brother with those suits you serve food to. You're a real 'full-service' waitress, I gotta say. You do know they'd give you the tips just for giving 'em their meals, right?"

She moved to slap me, but I grabbed her wrist and squeezed. "Morris ain't here to be your bodyguard, so I'd suggest keeping your hands to yourself."

"You're a bastard, you know that? You're so mean." Giving me a dirty look, she jerked her wrist away and went back to dancing as if nothing was happening.

"Cheat on Morris again and I'll show you mean," I said, before spinning her around. Damn; just two inches too far from the wall to connect.

"You know, maybe I just don't want him. Did you ever think of that?" she posed.

This girl was really toeing the line. "Then do us all a favor and break it off."

She laughed. "But then I wouldn't get to see you, would I?"

"That stuff doesn't work on me, Megs – you got nothing I want. Remember what I said." Pulling away from her, I headed back for the table.

She followed me back but had the good sense to stay quiet while I nursed my whiskey. It was a nice moment of silent resentment, until…

"Hi, there." Adren stood in front of us, smiling brightly.

I'm pretty sure Megs was as surprised as I was at the arrival of the Birthday Girl herself at our table, but she recovered quicker. "Well, hi. Another whiskey, please? And be quick about it."

Either Adren missed Megs' insult or ignored it, because she just kept smiling and shook her head, extending out her hand. It was kind of nice to know that it wasn't just my insults that didn't faze this girl. "I'm sorry, I'm not a waitress. I can get you one from the bar in a minute, though, if you'd like. You're Morris' girl, right? I'm Adren, it's so nice to finally meet you. Oscar says such nice things about you."

Well, that was just a _bald-faced_ lie.

Megs ignored her hand, using her own to cover a yawn. "Can't say the same - Oscar's never mentioned you. So this is your party, right? How old are you? You look twelve."

"And you look forty, but you don't see her pointing that out, do you?" I put in, giving her a warning look. Megs had been one of my least favorite people since the day she came barging into my life, clinging on to Morris – and more specifically, his wallet – like he was the Second Coming. I may not have known exactly where Adren stood with me, but I knew she sure as the daylights ranked higher than Megs. "This is Megs, Adren. But you can call her whatever you want, if you pay her a couple bucks first."

She turned to me, probably about to scratch my eyes out, but Adren interrupted her. "I'm seventeen, actually. Are you having a good time? I really appreciate you coming, I know this isn't your usual crowd. You work at that restaurant up the street, right? That seems like a nice gig, do you like it?"

"Don't flatter yourself. Oscar just told us about the free whiskey – he left out the part about the street-rat infestation," Megs said. I could tell she was winding up, but it was sort of like a gunshot – that instant you hear it, you know what's gonna happen next, but it's too fast to stop. "Listen, little girl. We're not your friends. You get away from this table right now, or the only thing you're going to want to chat about is where your teeth rolled off to. Understand?"

Adren looked stunned. I turned to Megs and was just about to say something that would no doubt earn me the beating of my life from Morris, but Adren cut me off once more. Cocking her head to the side and looking as innocent as a damn puppy, she said, "Oh. Well, I guess you should probably leave, then."

Now it was Megs' turn – and mine – to looked surprised. Shrugging at us, Adren motioned towards the door. "Sorry you didn't find what you were expecting. But if you're going to talk like that, pretty soon one of my friends is going to hear, and then they'll say something back, and you'll say something back, and I just can't have that when they went to so much trouble to throw this party, you know? There's a great bar a couple blocks east of here, I've heard. Maybe you could try that place."

"You think you can kick us out of here?" I could almost see the gears in Megs' head starting to grind. Adren was being so polite, Megs' usual ice-cold, better-than-you sarcasm wouldn't work, and without Morris here, she didn't really have a backup.

In the same matter-of-fact tone, Adren went on. "Oh, no. Just you; Oscar can stay, and I just assumed Morris was going to go with you. After all, it's a little late for you to be out alone, even though I'm sure you can handle yourself."

"You heard the birthday girl. Come on," I said, getting to my feet and pulling Megs up with me. Nodding to Adren, I headed straight for the exit before Megs had a chance to recover.

I barely got her to the door before she turned on me, shoving me into the wall. Ouch – the girl was stronger than she looked. Must have been all the pent up rage. "Let me go, jackass. I'm going to kill that girl! Wait until I tell Morris, he'll come back in here and-"

"Yeah, neither one of those things is going to happen," I told her, leaning back and rubbing my now-bruised shoulder. A guy really ought to get paid if he was going to have to deal with this kind of nonsense. Wasn't this supposed to be a party, or something?

"Oh yes, they are. I don't give a damn if she's letting you screw her sideways, nobody talks to me-"

I cut off her tirade by slapping a hand over her mouth so fast that I think it surprised both of us. "You don't talk about her like that, understand me? The only thing you're going to do is go find Morris and tell him you're bored and that you want to leave. And then you'll leave. That's it."

She looked outraged – no big surprise there – and offended once I let her go. However, apparently she had more sense than I gave her credit for, since she turned and walked out, slamming the door behind her.

"Honestly, from how you described her, I was really picturing someone… taller." Adren appeared behind me. "Also, I didn't see any horns."

"She wears her hair over them," I said, pulling out a cigarette.

She frowned. I hated when she did that – she had one of those faces that frowns just looked out of place on. Unlike mine, for example – my face was practically a free hotel for frowns, all comers welcome. "Sorry I had to kick her out. Are you going, too?"

"No way. With her out there, this is the one place in New York I'd most like to be," I shrugged. "Sorry, you know, about what she said. She's a lot of talk."

"No she's not. But you weren't going to let her touch me," she said, shrugging in return. I hated how she always managed to be more casual than me – she'd say just the right thing to rile me up, and then she'd look all innocent and relaxed, like she had no idea why I was so excited.

"If I were you, I wouldn't have bet my teeth on that," I told her, crossing my arms. At her look of disbelief, I rolled my eyes again and took a long drag off my cigarette. "I only would've stepped in because it's your birthday. And besides, we're kind of outnumbered here – stupid time to start a fight."

She grinned and all at once stepped forward, coming at me. Fortunately, she wasn't moving in to hit me; unfortunately, since I didn't know that, I moved out of instinct to face her and protect myself, and ended up catching her joking kiss on the cheek right on the mouth.

"Oscar! You did that on purpose!" Jerking away almost immediately, she turned pink.

I knew I was equally red, which made the whole thing that much worse. "'Oscar', _what_? Don't turn that on me, you're the one assaulting guys with your lips!"

"I was just trying to… I was kidding and…" Seeming to run out of words, after another moment she started to laugh. "That was definitely not how I imagined my first kiss."

I was about to really ream her for laughing, considering I was beyond not ready to find this funny, but I sobered up a little at her last comment. "That was your first? You're messing with me. That… don't even worry about that. Trust me, that doesn't count."

"First you steal my first kiss, and now you're insulting me? On my birthday?" I almost apologized, until I saw that she was still laughing a little. "Relax, I'm kind of glad I can say I got it out of the way."

"You didn't," I said, now a little offended. The fact that neither one of us actually meant to kiss was irrelevant, now, as far as I was concerned. _That_, was not a kiss from Oscar Delancey. Girls didn't laugh and say they were glad to 'get it out of the way', when they kissed Oscar Delancey. What was she trying to do, murder my reputation?

She sure was. "Oh, right. I forgot – I assaulted you," she amended, with that smartass smile she did so well.

"Don't start," I warned her.

"With my lips. Are you going to let me apologize, or are you going to have me arrested? I mean, assault with lips, that's a serious charge," she went on, like I hadn't spoken.

I actually growled – five minutes with this girl and I reverted back to animal communication. "You're not near as funny as you think you are."

She looked thoughtfully at the wall, ignoring me completely. "I wonder what the penalty is for a charge like that. The Refuge? Jail? Flogging?"

"You think that was a kiss? I'll show you a kiss," I said, grabbing her arm and pulling her forward.

Luckily, the fuzzy-headed kid was even drunker – and stupider – than me. "Adren! Adren, you gotta hear this joke," he said, rushing over and breaking us apart before either one of us had a chance to realize what had nearly just happened.

"What – are you okay?" she asked, as her friend suddenly bent over and put his hands against the wall.

Talk about a drunk coming in useful, for once. I was actually grateful to the guy; one more second of her teasing and I would've done something that even I knew was stupid. Now that that moment was broken, though, I was free to relax and enjoy the party, instead. Which maybe wouldn't be so bad – maybe I hadn't given these kids a fair shake. Maybe, I figured, at least for tonight and with a few more shots of whiskey, I could deal with their company for another few hours.

And that's when the little jerk threw up all over my shoes.

_Newsies._

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**((AN - Hey guys! Thanks so much for the reviews, I'm so relieved I didn't lose y'all with my months-long disappearing act. I get them while I'm at work, and they crack me up - and I do accounting work, so it's much needed. :) This chapter unfortunately couldn't be quite as funny as the others chapters, but I hope you like it! If all goes according plan, next chapter should be out tomorrow night!))**


	6. Chapter 5: Hello, First Kiss

_There's a burning in my pride_

_A nervous bleeding in my brain_

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It had been a week since Adren's fiasco of a birthday party, and we were back at the diner for lunch, as usual. Things had gone back to normal, with the small exception of us having a silent, unshakeable, 'til-death pact not to talk about that night again.

"You know, Mush is real sorry about your shoes. If you would've just let him, I know it would've made him feel better to pay for new ones."

Apparently I'd overestimated the depth of our pact. Probably would've been smart, at some point, to check and make sure she was even aware of it.

I looked up from my coffee, giving her a look I usually reserved for the especially stupid. "Oh, I'm sorry, did I hurt the guy's feelings? Here I was just thinking of myself and how I was gonna have to throw out my best pair of shoes, when I should've been asking myself, 'what can I do to make the drunk dumbass feel better'? I've got new shoes on – maybe I should go find him and let him ruin these, too. I bet he'd feel great, then."

She gave me a droll look. "Well, that just seems like the opposite of what would make him feel good."

"Trust me, next time I see him, he'll have bigger worries than how he 'feels'," I assured her, leaning back against the booth.

"No beating up my friends – you promised," she said firmly.

I had gotten pretty drunk at her party, but not _that_ drunk. And I can't imagine any other time I would've said something like that. "Promised? When did I ever say that?"

"Well, _implied_ promise, anyway," she amended.

"What the hell's an 'implied' promise?" I demanded.

She shrugged. "You haven't beaten any of them up since the party, so, you implied that you wouldn't from here on out. You know. 'Implied'."

I looked at her like she'd sprouted an extra arm. "Seven days of not breaking a knuckle against somebody's thick skull and it's an implied promise? Do you lay up at night, thinking this stuff up? If I go a whole month, does that 'imply' I'm trying to run for Pope or something?"

"So, you're saying you're breaking your promise," she posed.

I put my hands against my face just to make sure this was reality and not some annoying – very annoying – dream. "I didn't make a promise! You… you drive me crazy, you know that? You really do! They're gonna lock me up because of you!"

"You're so dramatic," she said, waving her hand like she was dismissing my words. "I just get under your skin because you're not used to friends that push you, is all."

"We're not friends." I scowled at her to emphasize the point before taking a drink of coffee.

"Well, we're not lovers, so I think 'friends' is accurate," she said thoughtfully, pretending to be totally unaware of me choking on my coffee at that.

I shook my head. "That's not what I meant. I mean, you and me, we're not friends."

For once, and finally, she looked a little upset. "What did you mean, then? Is being my friend really that bad? Does it really embarrass you that much, just to have me around?"

"What? Whoa, hey, relax." Great, now I was having to comfort her. Girls – always zero or ten, no in-between. Still, I hadn't seen her upset like this; it should've felt great, but instead, I just wanted her to go back to making up 'implied' promises and laughing at me. "Look, guys like me don't have friends like you. That's just how it is."

"What's 'like me'?" she demanded, frowning. "That girl, Megs; the way she was, is that the way you think, too?"

"What? Are you kidding me? No – anything that Megs ever says, just, you know, know that I think the opposite," I said, leaning back even farther. "Look, it's not you. What I mean is… what I'm trying to… Look, guys like me don't deserve friends like you, okay? You're a respectable girl, and you're fun, and you're way too nice to be hanging around with guys like me. Just because you don't have the good sense to be embarrassed by having me around doesn't mean I don't see that you should be."

She was quiet for awhile. "You're not a guy 'like' somebody, to me, you know. You're just Oscar. And I like you."

"You shouldn't," I told her. Unfortunately, her stupid speech did the trick – something inside of me started tossing all around, like she'd flipped some damn switch.

She looked up at me and, catching my uncertain expression, looked less upset. "And you like me."

"Doesn't matter," I returned.

She was smiling, now. "And we spend a lot of time together."

"Do you even listen to me? It's like I'm talking to the table."

"So… we're friends."

I groaned and covered my face completely with my hand. "If I say yes, will you stop?"

She tapped her cheek with her finger, apparently thinking it over. "Probably."

"_Yes_, we're friends. We shouldn't be. You're really stupid to even want to be. But we're friends," I conceded.

"Finally. Now, I have the friendship bracelets back at the house, under my bunk, but I can bring them tomorrow. You have to wear it all the time, okay? That way everyone'll know what good friends we are." At my look of, I'm sure, total horror, she grinned. "I'm kidding, jeez."

"You're a riot," I said dryly. It was quiet for another minute before I finally broke it, one of her previous comments rolling around in my head too much to ignore. "Did Megs bother you? Listen, I told you, she's like that to everybody, me included. Don't take her seriously."

"No, she just…" I waited, but for once, it seemed like Adren really wasn't going to let me in on what she was thinking. Which, coming from the girl who shared everything she was thinking, just made me want to know more. Unfortunately, luck wasn't on my side, because she shook her head firmly and cleared her throat. "Never mind, doesn't matter. You know what your problem is, though? You take _yourself_ way too seriously."

The old bait and switch distraction method. I was smarter than that – which made it all the worse when I completely fell for it. "I do not."

She laughed. "You do too! You can't even admit that you take yourself too seriously!"

I was offended – mostly because she was right, and I had no good argument. "I'm as relaxed as they come. I have to be – I put up with you, don't I?"

"Relaxed? Right." Taking a piece of ice from her water cup, she threw it right at my nose. "Are you relaxed, now?"

I rubbed the leftover water off my nose. "I was until you hit me!"

"You see? Dramatic," she said, throwing another piece.

I growled, again. "You'd better stop."

"Right after you admit that you take yourself too seriously, I will. Can't fix a problem until you admit you have one," she counseled, before hitting me with yet another.

"You're going to lose that hand if you keep it up. Don't think I won't – once they met you, no court could convict me," I told her, reaching forward and grabbing her wrist before she could fish out another piece of ice to hurl.

"Oh please – I'm not scared of you now. You're a soft touch when it comes to your friends," she informed me.

"You're actually trying to drive me crazy, aren't you?" I accused.

She just gave another toothy grin. "You're the one that makes it so easy – you're so predictable."

Predictable?

Right then, I kissed her.

I'd like to say it was her pushing that did it. A man can only take so much relentless prodding, and she should have had a career in that. Still, as I leaned over the table and grabbed her chin, I really wasn't thinking about that. I just wanted her. Her smart-aleck, right-all-the-time comments, her habit of chatting with and laughing at people she ought to run from, and her general disregard for what I figured should've been her sense of self-preservation.

She drove me crazy, and as much as I hated to admit it, I was kind of starting to like it.

I'm not a gentle guy, and the girls in my circle weren't really your traditional 'gentle touch' kind, but I knew this was different, so I tried to keep it light. It got easier when she started kissing me back; from her lips to her skin, everything about her was so damned soft that I was afraid pressing too hard might break her.

Finally, about five seconds after I should have, I pulled back and let go of her. She didn't move, almost like she didn't realize it was over.

_That_ was an Oscar Delancey kiss.

Seeing how stunned she looked when I pulled away was worth it. At least, right up until I realized what I'd just done to earn it.

Crap.

Getting up so fast I shook the table, I threw some money down and shook my head. "Some of us got jobs to get back to," I said stiffly, not looking at her as I turned and headed for the door.

I knew once I hit the sidewalk that it was going to be fine. She'd laugh it off, and tomorrow everything'd be back to normal. It was just a stupid kiss – I figured it wouldn't change much.

I was wrong.

That kiss changed everything.

The only thing it couldn't change, in the end, was me.


	7. Chapter 6: Hello, First Date

**((A/N - Sorry about the delay! The good news is, I felt bad about the wait so I tried to make sure this chapter was longer. The bad news is... ah, I guess you'll see, but I'm sorry, in advance. Please R & R! Thanks so much for the reviews last chapter!))**

_An ounce of peace is all I want for you_

_Will you never call again?_

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It was noon, right on the dot. All the normal customers were seated nearby, and I was at our usual booth, coffee in hand. Everything was normal, except for one thing.

Where the heck was Adren?

It was the day following our kiss. I hadn't seen her in the distribution line; but then, that wasn't unusual, so I didn't think much of it. With the number of kids that went through there, and since I didn't usually work the window, I missed her a lot. I thought for a moment that she might be sick, but quickly dismissed that. We kiss and suddenly she's out sick? This was New York – coincidences didn't happen here.

I sat there for at least ten minutes, scanning the restaurant. She was _never _late. Finally I was so confused that I set the coffee down, got up and walked out of the restaurant, only to turn around and re-enter it with the expectation that it would be normal when I came back in. Which, in my opinion, was only half as crazy a plan in theory as it was in actuality.

Nope. Still no Adren.

Now I was starting to get looks from some of the other patrons. Perfect. Tossing them a one-fingered salute, I turned around and headed out again, this time starting down the road. If that girl thought she was going to stand me up, well, she had another thing coming.

I started for her selling spot, getting angrier with each step. Who did she think she was, anyway? Not like I didn't have anything better to do with my lunches than spend them chitchatting with her.

I _didn't_, actually, but that was completely beside the point.

I didn't know whether to be furious or happy when my hunch turned out to be right, and she was indeed at her selling spot. So, I went for fury – it was my old throwback, anyway. Besides, after seeing that she wasn't alone but instead had that damn eye patch kid with her, it was a pretty easy feeling to muster up.

"Hate to break up the party," I said, stopping short in front of them and moving to glare at Adren. "We had an appointment. Or did you just figure it'd be more fun to make me waste my lunch hour?"

Adren at least had the decency to look surprised and stay silent. Eye patch kid wasn't so smart, apparently, as he stepped between us. "Why don't you move on, Delancey? You're interrupting."

"Did I do something to give you the impression that I _won't_ kill you if you don't get away from me?" I turned to glare at him, causing him to take a step back. I'm sure I sounded like I meant it – given that I did, and all. I mean, what was this kid doing hanging around her selling spot? And what was I interrupting, huh? On _my_ lunch time?

Adren cut in; probably wanted to help the guy save a little face by giving him an excuse to turn tail and run. "Blink, it's fine. I'll catch up with you later, okay?"

I waved at him. "Run along, now, _Blink_."

"I'll be just down the street," he said, giving me a wary look and walking away. Maybe he was a little smarter than I gave him credit for.

Not that I was going to let _her_ know that. "Blink, huh? Because of the eye patch? _Clever_."

"Don't make fun of my friends," she said, in her normal casual tone. Like nothing was wrong. Like everything was just flowers and sunshine.

I didn't like it.

"Who's making fun? I was just asking. So… how many years did it take him to come up with it? I'm guessing… at least two, right? He seems like the type where thinking hard is a slow process," I offered.

"Oscar…" she warned.

"Oscar, what? What's with you, huh? Why'd you skip out on lunch?" Okay, so now I sounded like a little bit of a raving lunatic compared to her calm demeanor, but I didn't care.

"I'm sorry, selling just ran late and I got caught up talking to Blink," she said, sounding surprised that I was so upset.

"Don't give me that. Look, if this is about the…" I couldn't even finish. It seemed stupid to even say it.

"About the what? Are you okay?" she asked.

"The kiss! Look, it was no big deal, damnit. If I knew you were going to get all weird about it, I wouldn't have done it," I snapped. "It was no big deal."

"… You're kind of upset, for no big deal," she said, frowning.

I groaned. "Because you're obviously upset, skipping out on lunch and all! Like I said, no big deal. It just seemed like a good idea at the time. And you know what, I'm not apologizing for it again - you're a good-lookin' girl, and I like you. And you were driving me insane with the talking-"

"Well, you actually never did apologize for it. Just, so you know." She cut me off. "You like me?"

"- What?" Oh, great. It had just dawned on me what I'd said – and worse, that I'd meant it exactly like it sounded. Which of course, she'd caught on to and was now going to torture me with. "I mean, yeah, you're my friend. We've been over this."

"So you kiss all your friends?"

How did she manage to make every question she asked more annoying than the last one? "Give me a break, here. Yeah, I like you. So what?"

"I don't know, you're the one that seems to have a problem with it," she shrugged. "Were you planning on doing something about it? Is that why you're so worked up?"

Great, now I was the one with the questions. "Doing something? Doing what?"

"I don't know, that's why I was asking. I mean, I guess the normal thing would be for you to ask me on a date, wouldn't it?" Okay, now she was smiling; the she-devil was enjoying this.

I, on the other hand, was wishing someone would come up behind me and shank me, just to get me out of this moment. "I… what makes you think I want to date you?" At her look of disbelief, I groaned again. "You make me crazy, you know that?"

"I got that – kind of funny that you like that, apparently, huh? To each their own, I guess." She was still grinning. "Oscar, it's okay. I know you can't really to date me, and I'm not offended or anything. I like just being friends. So, stop being weird and let's just go to lunch."

"That's all I wanted to do any… wait, what do you mean, I can't? Who the hell says I can't?" I demanded.

Her expression turned more serious. "Come on. Me and your friends? If your brother's girlfriend is any indication, I don't think we're all going to get along very well. You don't need that kind of grief."

"My friends? They'd…" I cut myself off right there. No sense in even trying with that argument – even I knew she had me there. "What about your friends?"

"My friends would be just fine if you stopped threatening to kill them. That's really the thing they don't seem to like about you," she replied. "Really, it's okay."

"No, it's not. I date who I want, I don't need anybody's permission." She gave me a full on look of disbelief, which caused me to shake my head. "What, you don't believe me? Fine, come out with me tonight and I'll prove it. I've got a spot most of my boys are usually at – it's a little noisy, but it's not bad."

"Seriously?" she posed.

I rolled my eyes. "Either you want to, or not. You're killing me with the questions, here."

She was quiet for a long time, and I started to get nervous. What if she said no? For that matter, how'd I even get to this point, anyway? I just wanted my damn lunch, and now all of the sudden I- "… Yes. Sure."

"What was that?" I stared at her, not sure I'd heard right.

"Sure, I want to. I mean, why not? You're a good-lookin' guy and I like you. And you're driving me crazy with how defensive you are about your feelings so, either you must really like me, or you're really going to end up strangling me one of these days. Why wait? Let's just figure out which it is, now," she smiled.

"… Ah, okay. Okay. I'll come by to get you around eight," I said, too surprised to do anything but go along with this, now. She smiled before starting to laugh, and I raised an eyebrow. "What's so funny?"

"You do realize you just asked me out on a date, right? A real date, with me? … Never mind. Come on, we're running out of time to eat."

Her grin as she started to walk off toward the diner made me so irritated that I sent back, "Of course I do! What am I, an idiot?"

She just waved and swept out of sight in time to miss me rolling my eyes again and pulling out a cigarette. I had it halfway to my mouth before I dropped it, cussing as I actually did realize what I'd done. A date with her, with my friends?

Oh, hell.

I was definitely an idiot.

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"Are you sure I'm dressed okay for this place?" We were nearly to the bar, and she was smoothing out her skirt for the dozenth time. At my blank look, she flushed. "I know the girls around… well, here, dress a little different. They always look so… nice."

"_You_ look nice," I returned, trying to stop looking at her like she'd grown a second head so that she'd stop blushing. Really, though, I couldn't think of a weirder thing for her to be worried about; I'd never seen her _not_ look nice. "The girls around here look like a lot of things, but 'nice' ain't one of them. You're dressed fine. You'll class up the joint."

She smiled, and I felt like I'd won something I didn't know I'd been competing for. "So, will your brother be here?"

"Yeah, we got a couple hours before our second job starts so he's probably in the back with Megs… who'll be on her best behavior, don't worry," I added hastily, opting against finishing that her 'best' behavior was still pretty damn unpleasant. I couldn't in good conscience, however, not warn her, "Just… stay close to me in here, okay? Some of these guys are my friends, but a lot of them are just guys that I know. Sometimes they can be real idiots."

"You already saved my life once outside a bar – I wouldn't make you do it again." She lightened up and laughed, even though I didn't. "Are you really worried about someone trying to take advantage of me?"

Yeah, that was exactly what I was worried about, actually. And I didn't think it was funny at all.

I thought it was even less amusing when, as soon as we stepped through the door, we had every guy nearby's full attention. And, it might've just been the jealousy in me talking, but I was pretty sure they weren't thinking about how good _I_ looked.

Adren didn't seem to notice. "Is that Morris over there?"

I nodded at where she was pointing as I pulled her in the other direction. "Yep, him and Megs."

"So… you're not going to talk to them?" she questioned, following me as I stopped at a booth safely outside the middle of the crowd.

"I don't know how your dates normally go, but me, I like to spend time with the person I'm with, not the rest of the world," I answered, sliding into the booth.

"This is my first date," she said, shrugging and smiling.

Of course it was. Now feeling properly like an ass, I tried to recover. "You shouldn't be wasting it with me, then. But since you did, I guess, you want anything to drink?"

"Sure, I'll have what you're having," she nodded, leaning back.

I frowned. "What I'm having? Don't you want something… I don't know, frilly?"

I should've known better, by now. "What kind of drink is 'frilly'? I know doilies that are frilly, but no drinks. Can you describe 'frilly' for me?"

"Okay, now you're just getting whiskey," I snapped, doing my best to ignore her laughter as I headed to the bar.

I was only gone a few moments, but apparently that was enough for the wolves to close in. And why shouldn't then, when I was stupid enough to bring fresh meat right to them? I arrived at the table to find two new occupants – both of whom fell into the 'guys I knew' category. "Boys," I said curtly, taking a seat next to Adren.

"Delancey," the taller of the two, Johnny, smirked at me before returning his eyes to Adren, despite adding, "Where've you been keeping this one? You've been holding out."

Johnny and his counterpart, Sam, were some of my least favorite people in our usual group. They were good for the work we did – busting heads was more of a game, to them, then work – but they were just the kind you'd expect to see out of the corner of your eye right before a knife gets planted between your shoulders. Unfortunately, Johnny was a few years older and one of the higher-ups, in terms of who called the shots, so I just did my best to avoid them. Apparently, though, my best wasn't good enough, tonight.

"Something I can help you gentlemen with, or did you just want to spend some time with me? Because that's sweet, really, but I'm kinda on a date here," I said. My hands were still firmly wrapped around the drinks in order to keep from doing something unpleasant, like dragging them out of my booth by their necks.

Sam gave a smile, which provided a great view of some of his missing and broken teeth. Always a charmer. "We were just getting to know your lovely date, here. Not often we get such nice looking visitors, so we had to stop over and say hello. I mean, she is really just a – _son of a whore_!"

He jumped in his seat, which resulted in what sounded like a terribly painful cracking of his knee against the bottom of the table and a really colorful string of curses. Johnny and I looked between each other, completely confused, until Adren put a hand over her mouth.

"Oh, my gosh, I am _so sorry_. Was that your foot? I thought it was a rat trying to crawl up my leg." Wide-eyed and innocent as ever, she blinked a few times to really seal the deal. "I hope your toes are okay. I guess I don't know my own strength."

"I can show you _strength_," Sam spat through gritted teeth, completely red-faced.

I moved forward, but Adren reached out and slid her hand into mine, nudging it away from the glass. Glancing over at her, she gave me a wink and squeezed my fingers, which made me as warm as if I'd just downed a shot of vodka. Truth be told, no one held my hand – for some reason, people didn't seem to think I was the kind of guy it was wise to try that with. While most of them were right, coming from her, it was actually kind of nice.

As it turned out, the momentary distraction was good anyway, since Johnny took the opportunity to slap Sam upside the head for me. "The hell kind of farm were you raised on? Apologize to the girl."

"If your foot hurts too much for that, I can break your nose to distract you," I added.

"Sorry," Sam managed after a few moments of letting his face get back to its normal color. "Temper gets away from me – especially around this lot."

"Oh, sure. I hate when that happens," she nodded, completely matter-of-fact.

Sam looked unsure if she was joking or not, and both men looked decidedly less comfortable than they had before now that their pretense of 'friendliness' was sunk. I'd never been more thankful for the girl's ability to make people feel awkward.

"So, how long have you and our good friend Oscar, here, been spending time together?" Johnny tried.

"This is our first date. We've been friends for some time, now, though. I'm really stuck on him," she said, and this time, at least, her tone was crystal clear; they were intruding.

Apparently aware that the game was up, though a little too late in my opinion, Johnny nodded, clapping Sam on the back. "I think she's trying to tell us to get lost, huh? Guess we better do what the pretty lady says."

"Pretty Lady? Are you over here talking about me, Johnny?"

It was right about that moment in time when I started to wonder seriously if I was actually the unluckiest man alive. Megs trotted over, pulling Morris with her and stopping short in front of our booth. "Look at this, a party, and no one even bothered to wave us over. How incredibly rude. Aren't you going to offer me a seat, Oscar?"

"Of course," I said, looking shocked that she'd even have to ask before pointing to a back table that was usually reserved for whores on the prowl. "I think there's an empty one right over there. Have at it."

Morris growled at me and, deciding that maybe his and Megs' presence might help Johnny and Sam to move along, I rolled my eyes and got up. Of course, no sooner had I done so than Megs scooted in, cozying right up to Adren and wrapping her arms around her. I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised – where there was attention to be had, there was Megs. "Annie, it is so nice to see you again!"

"You guys are friends?" Sam asked, probably to try and fill what had suddenly become a very suffocating silence.

"_Best_ friends," Megs smiled Adren, who in turn just looked bewildered. "A bit of a rough start, but, we're over it. I mean, when you're dating brothers, it sort of makes you like sisters, too. Isn't that right, Annie?"

"Well, I'm not really sure about that. I mean, for a start, my name's Adren, so… maybe you have me confused with someone else? It's kind of strange to forget your best friend's name, I think. Probably not a very good best friend," she offered, as Megs let her go and turned pink.

"Silly goose – she's such a kidder," Megs said, doing her best to recover despite looking furious for a moment when the others – including Morris – laughed. "Don't tease so much, Adren, _Dear_. Men don't find it attractive."

For once, I was slightly with her, at least in the fact that there wasn't anything amusing about all of this. "Listen, great to see you all, but we're on a date here, so…"

"So, _what_, Oscar?" Megs said. None of them looked too thrilled at the idea that I was kicking them out, and I was starting to wonder whether things had turned so ugly that I just needed to grab Adren and go.

Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, Adren was braver than I was. "So, it was really terrific to meet you all, but would you mind giving us some privacy, now, please?"

They looked between each other and finally, Johnny nodded. "Of course, Doll. We'll come back and bother you and this lunkhead some other time."

They started to get up, and Morris motioned to Megs, and I let out a breath of relief. Of course, right at that moment, Megs picked up one of the whiskeys on the table and dumped it on Adren. "Sorry, I'm _so_ clumsy. Anyway, have all the privacy you want."

She got up and, between the others' smirks and my look of disbelief, she just sneered and shrugged. Having the good sense to immediately get out of my arms' reach and behind Morris, she offered, looking Adren up and down, "Oh, don't be upset, Oscar. We're just joking around, right? It's such an ugly… _shirt_, anyway."

At that point, I did just grab Adren and head for the door, not saying a word until we were on the street. "I'm sorry," I began, letting her go.

She frowned down at her shirt, sighing. "It's ruined, isn't it?"

"Yeah," I nodded. After a second, she seemed to realize I wasn't talking about her blouse and frowned at me, but I cut her off. "This can't happen again. You don't belong here."

"It wasn't that bad-" she began.

I shook my head. "You got felt up and had a drink poured on you when I was right there. I know this was your first date, and since you apparently fell out of the damned sky you don't know any better, but this was the definition of a bad date. And it only took a few minutes to get here, with me there! What do you think it's going to be like when I turn my back? When they have more time?"

"Oscar, I don't care. I don't need you to protect me," she said, but conceded after a moment, "Places where it's just you and me do seem to turn out better."

"You shouldn't have to hide," I returned, before nodding as my mind wrapped itself around the conclusion I knew I should've come to a lot earlier. It had to be done. "This, us, is over. No more talking, no more lunch, nothing. We're strangers, do you get me?"

"I don't understand." She gave me a hurt look, but I just locked my jaw in return. "I don't want to be strangers."

Great. Now I got to do the worst thing I'd done in awhile – and for a guy who shakes people down for a job, that had to be pretty bad. "I don't care what you want. Just go home – and I'm not following you, so I'd avoid any alley shortcuts if I were you."

"You're not going to walk me home?" All of that, and she only really looked offended at the idea that I was going to make her leave and walk home alone.

I couldn't believe how naïve this girl was. Reaching out, I grabbed her arm and shook her slightly. "Do I need to jump you myself to get it through your thick head? I'm a bad guy! Those people in there are bad people! Get the hell out of here and stay away before one of us decides not to let you leave!"

"Stop it!" Jerking her arm away, she held a hand over it, staring at me like I was, truly, a stranger. She was silent for a few moments, seeming to mull something over that I couldn't quite read, before finally shaking her head and walking away.

I stood there until she was out of sight. I don't really know why; I knew she wouldn't turn around. I guess I was just expecting her to say something, or… something. I hadn't ever won, with her – apparently, I finally did.

As it turned out, winning sucked.

Getting a hold of myself, I turned and walked back into the bar. Quite a few eyes were on me, now, but for a decidedly different reason as Sam walked up to me and patted my shoulder, smiling. "Did she leave you? Give her a night or two, she'll calm down. We were just having fun. Who wants a girl who can't take a little joking, anyway?"

I slipped my hand in my pocket, sliding on my brass knuckles, and all at once swung around and punched the man right in the jaw. He went down, hard, and suddenly I had the rapt attention of all the nearby patrons. Looking straight at Megs, who had the gall to still be sitting at my booth, I said simply, "Next person in here to _joke_ around with me or mine loses their damned tongue."

As I moved to step over Sam and sit down at the bar to order a drink, for the first time since I'd met Adren, I felt like myself again.

I'd forgotten how awful it felt.


	8. Chapter 7: Hello, Love

**((AN - Hi guys! Sorry about the delay, I've been overseas since March and am just finally settled back in. More (regular) updates should be on their way from here on out. I'm starting the next chapter this afternoon! Thanks so much for your reviews, with such long breaks it really help keep me motivated to know that someone's reading.))**

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_And will you never say that you love me just to put it in my face?  
And will you never try to reach me? It is I that wanted space  
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It had been three weeks since that night at the bar, and Adren and I hadn't spoken again. In fact, she pointedly refused to even make eye contact with me when she was heading through the distribution line, and she hadn't gone near the coffee shop. Not that I was still going there to see her or anything… good coffee was just tough to find in this city. And if she happened to show up, well, that was just a coincidence.

"Oscar, pick it up!" I jumped as Morris slammed a stack of papers down in front of me. "What's with you today, huh? You're slowin' everybody up. Go take a break, get your head clear."

The other guys didn't dare say anything, but I could tell most of them were getting a kick out of watching Morris ream me out. I'd been off my rhythm since that night at the bar, especially at my jobs – which means everybody else had to pick up my slack. Giving them a look, I headed out the back, taking off down the street to find a quiet place to smoke.

I really didn't mean to walk all the way to Adren's selling spot. My legs had a mind of their own, I guess. Still, I had the good sense enough to duck out of the way when I realized where I was – and lucky, she was too distracted to notice.

"Thank you for the note… again… but I really have to get back to selling," she was saying, to a tall man in front of her whose back was turned to me. "It's a sweet offer, but I'm not really in the market for a… companion, right now. Thank you again, though."

He said something I couldn't make out, but judging by how she moved away and looked uncomfortable, I guessed it wasn't something sweet. She stood her ground for a few more moments, but then the guy leaned in and she bolted – a bad sign. Adren used to go on and on about her great selling spot – she wouldn't desert it if it were life or death. And hell, with her, probably not even then in most cases.

I don't know why I did it. Same reason I had walked there in the first place, I guess – my body always did seem to know before my head worked it out, when it came to her. The minute she was out of sight I had that guy in the alley by the throat, slamming him up against the wall twice for emphasis. "Hello, there."

The man looked scared, not that I blamed him. I was kind of a badass. "Who are you?"

"Did I not introduce myself? Where are my manners," I posed, before tightening my grip around his neck. "I'm the guy who's gonna make that mug of yours a lot less pretty if you don't stay away from that girl back there. You're the jackass that makes the love notes, right?"

"That's none of your business," he said indignantly. I had to give the guy credit; he was at least consistent with his crazy. "Those are private and personal."

He was really breaking my heart, here. "I can think of some things you'd probably consider a hell of a lot more private and personal that you'll be going without if you go near her again. You get me? No more notes, no more stopping by. You get your paper somewhere else."

I could tell he was on the ropes, but he gave it one last shot as I let him go and stepped back. "You can't make me do anything," he said.

I rolled my eyes and pulled out my switchblade, flipping it open. "Define 'make', buddy."

Crazy or not, you could always count on one thing from guys in this city; when pressed, they'll turn tail and run like rats. He did just that, leaving me to put away the blade and scratch my head for a moment. Here I was, defending Adren again, and this time she wouldn't even know that she owed me one. Also, she hated me. Not usually the kind of person I did favors for.

What was wrong with me?_  
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"Cigarette must've cleared your mind something good, huh?" Morris asked, lighting one of his own as we headed out from the distribution center.

The rest of the shift had gone better. Better than it had for weeks for me, actually – I'd like to think it was the violence that knocked me out of my funk. "Yeah, something like that."

He was quiet for a minute. "I'm not working tomorrow tonight; you know, Valentine's day. Megs has it in her head that she's gotta try this new place uptown. What about you?"

"What about me? Oh, I get it, you want me to tag along and split the bill with you. Look, brother, the family bond only goes so far; just say the word and I'll take a bullet for you, but I draw the line at having to escort Megs anywhere but Hell," I returned, before ducking a good-natured swing from him. "And I'm sure not paying for that banshee to eat, she'll order the whole menu just out of spite."

Chuckling, he shook his head. "That's not what I was talking about. And lay off her – she's a sweet girl."

"Sweet?" I said, not bothering to try and cover up my shock. "Compared to what, the black plague?"

Rolling his eyes, he shoved me. "Quit changing the subject."

"Sweet girls wouldn't unhinge their jaws and eat their own young if given half the chance. Which I bet she would. Just saying," I added, when he looked like he might swing for real. "I'm gonna work. What else would I do?"

"Thought you might be seeing that girl again. I mean, I know you're on a break or whatever you're calling it, but the way Megs tells it, if a guy skips out on Valentine's day, he's finished." He had the decency to look a little embarrassed to be quoting Megs, but I wasn't buying it.

"She just told you that so you'd waste a week's wages on her. Besides, Adren and I ain't on a break – we're done. Wasn't anything, anyway. Just some stupid newsie looking for a thrill, and I was bored – that's all," I shrugged, lighting my own cigarette.

I got half a drag out of it before it fell out of my mouth and on to the ground, courtesy of a slap upside the head from Morris. "Lie to me again and I'll make you cry right here on the street."

"Lie? What are you talking about? Are you crazy?" I demanded. As much as I didn't like unexpected hits, even worse was that that was my last cigarette!

"I don't see what's so embarrassing about it. She's a cute girl and she put up with the likes of you – you'd be an idiot to let that go," Morris said, walking on. "I mean, you're not exactly a prized pig."

Catching up with him, I rolled my eyes. "Thanks. And if you liked her so much, maybe you could've put a muzzle on that _sweet_ girl of yours before she chased her off, huh?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I could've done better. Sorry about that."

I stopped short. I could count the number of times Morris had ever apologized to me on one hand – and almost all of those times involved me nearly being permanently crippled. "Did you just say you were sorry?"

"What, do you want a hug, too?" he demanded, making a face and walking on until I had to run to catch up to him.

"Why are you talking about all this, huh? Why do you care?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.

Morris shrugged once more and was silent for a moment. "You know why I go with Megs? I mean, really? … I know she's got her faults. But when I'm with her, it doesn't matter that I worked all day, or what I might have to do at night. It's just me and her, and the world just gets… quiet. You need to find that, you know, peace or whatever you want to call it, or else this life we're leading is gonna drive you nuts. If that girl gives you that, don't let it go."

I didn't know what to say. We were brothers; we didn't talk about our feelings, Morris especially. "… Maybe she gives me that, but, I ended it pretty rough. Don't think I can fix it."

"That's why I'm telling you this – jeez you're slow on the uptake today. Get her something shiny and apologize tomorrow when she'll already be all sappy and lonely for the Holiday," he explained.

I frowned as I thought it over, before finally shrugging. "Guess it couldn't hurt. Oh hey, Morris?"

"Yeah?" he asked, glancing over at me. He looked pretty wary; this emotional stuff was uncomfortable, and I could tell he'd reached his limit. Lucky for him, this was me.

"I'm telling Ma you hit me," I smirked, before taking off toward our tenement.

"What are you, eight? Hey, get back here!" he yelled, before running after me. "Get back here! You better not tell Ma!"

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* * *

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"Hey." It wasn't the most profound way to start out, I'll admit, but I still don't think it warranted a shriek, which is what I got. "… A hello is pretty standard, but screaming works okay too, I guess."

Adren held a hand against her heart, her papers now strewn across the sidewalk. "Oscar? What are you doing sneaking up on me? You scared me half to death!"

"Well luckily I wasn't trying to buy a paper, because I gotta say, being screamed at when I'm trying to make a purchase is a little off-putting," I said, reaching down to pick up her scattered merchandise.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded.

"Picking up papers for a really ungrateful newsgirl, right at the moment," I returned, before standing and handing back her papers. "Look, I'm just here to apologize. I know I was an ass, and I'm sorry."

"Thanks," she managed, before looking up at me curiously. "Why are you apologizing to me? You made it pretty clear that we can't even be friends, so why bother?"

Of course she wouldn't make this easy on me – I should've known. "Because I was stupid. Look, what are you doing tonight?"

For once, it was her turn to look uncomfortable. "I'm going to dinner with a friend, actually."

Well, I hadn't counted on that – or the swift feeling of being punched in the stomach that came right after. "Eye-Patch?"

"Blink," she corrected, nodding.

Biting back any comments about the Cyclops, I cleared my throat. "Some other time, then."

"Yeah. Look, Oscar… just tell me why you're here, really," she said, folding her papers under her arm.

I looked at her for a few moments, trying to figure out how – or what – to say. It had all seemed so easy after listening to Morris and planning it out – swing by her selling spot, apologize, go back to being friends and maybe more. But now, standing so close to her after being apart for so long, I realized I had no idea what I was doing.

"I don't know, don't have some great reason… just got used to having you around, I guess. Nobody talks much to me and I… like, talking to you. You got a nice smile, too, and after staring at the ugly mugs I work with all day, it's a nice change. And you're fun and you're nice and I don't know anybody else like that, and when I'm with you I don't feel like myself. I feel, I don't know, better, I guess. And, I…"

And I realized right then exactly why I was there. Why I'd been acting so off and feeling so strange for so long now, maybe even since I first came in contact with her.

I loved her.

I mean, I couldn't be sure. I hadn't ever felt it before, not like this – it was good and bad, warm and terrifying, all at the same time. For all I knew, it might've been a heart attack; would've been more likely, I figured. Still, when I didn't die there on the sidewalk, I realized love was probably what it was.

A second later, I realized too that Morris had it all wrong. Adren wasn't a break from the world, from me. She wasn't quiet. She was loud. She came in and demolished everything I was so sure about and turned me completely upside down. And I couldn't just apologize and put everything back to how it was, because it didn't fit. She didn't work in my life; not because _we_ didn't work, but because my _life_ didn't work. _I_ didn't work.

"Oscar?" Her voice was softer, now. I must've been silent for too long, because she was looking at me like she was afraid I had cracked. Which frankly wasn't too far off base, probably, as far as I was concerned.

"Sorry. Listen, I like you – everything about you, even when you drive me crazy. Especially when you drive me crazy. But I'm a bad guy, and I don't deserve to hang around with you," I said, slowly coming around to what I should have realized the first time.

Adren looked stunned. "You came here to stop being my friend… again?"

"No, damnit; I swear you can't even let me apologize without driving me insane. I don't deserve you, but I want to. I want to be a guy who doesn't hang around places that I can't take you, or do things I can't tell you, and I can't do that without you. You're the first real friend I've ever had and I want you back. I know you're better off without me, and that you don't need me, but I need you, and I can wait around however long it takes." Clearing my throat, I shook my head. "I just came here to tell you that I'm sorry, I was an idiot, and there'll always be a seat and coffee for you at the diner if you ever want to stop by again."

"I… don't know what to say," she said, staring at me like I'd grown a second head.

"You don't have to," I reminded her, before doing something that probably surprised me even more than it surprised her. Handing her a dollar, I took her papers from her carefully. "It's getting late – you need to call it quits if you're to get ready to meet your friend tonight. Besides, they're dirty – probably won't be able to sell them anyway."

Not wanting to stick around for her reaction – to any of it, really – I took off down the street. Once safely away, I slapped myself on the forehead, groaning. What was wrong with me? Good deeds, love, heart-felt speeches? Buying papers so she wouldn't be late for her date with the stupid Pirate?

I was going soft.

"Hey Delancey, you're in my spot." Some newsboy, who I recognized from Adren's party as one of the more drunk ones, gave me a fierce look as he marched up to me. Apparently, I wasn't the only one in the city questioning my possible attitude change. "Move."

I hadn't realized I clocked him until he was flat on the sidewalk, holding his eye. "It's all yours," I shrugged, whistling as I started back down the street.

Well, okay. Maybe I wasn't going _too_ soft.


End file.
